• then Back in the early 1980s, American Airlines offered some its frequent flier customers the ultimate deal, if they could afford it — for $250,000 or more, they could fly first class on unlimited flights for the rest of their lives. The deal, intended for businesses, ended up getting taken up by wealthy individuals — including celebrities like Willie Mays and entrepreneurs like Michael Dell — who used it full-hilt, some flying dozens of times each month.
• now With American Airlines suffering from bankruptcy, the company appears to have handed out a check they can’t cash, with some fliers costing the airline millions. Now the airline is cracking down, investigating those who sold use of the passes or overburdened the system, breaking the rules as a result. The company stopped selling the unlimited passes in 1994, but briefly revived them at a much higher price in 2004. source

» Quick thought on the matter: Anyone see shades of AT&T and Verizon in this whole mess, in that (like AA) both companies sold unlimited service for something — in this case, mobile data access — only to change their minds after they decided it was costing too much, in the process treating their customers like jerks? The lesson: Unlimited has limits, apparently.

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